


Who are you waiting for?

by crazychipmunk



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, Braavos, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Season 8, The Faceless Men, The House of Black and White, Winterfell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 05:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18515134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazychipmunk/pseuds/crazychipmunk
Summary: "She had Arya’s face and Arya’s voice and even Arya’s smile. But despite all that, he felt like he had just spoken to a ghost. An unnatural ghost of Arya, pretending to be the girl he was in love with. Gendry had traveled to the end of the world to find her, but now that he finally had, she was gone."





	Who are you waiting for?

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to write a fic about Arya just straight-up doing her Faceless Man thing and pretending to be in love with Gendry but then I read it and I felt like, "wow this is depressing and I do not have an incentive to read more" so I threw in a tragic backstory as to why she's so cold so hopefully it's interested you all enough to climb all-aboard the Gendry-teaches-Arya-how-to-love-again-so-please-excuse-her-current-behavior ship and read on to the next chapter :)

Arya imagined this must be what it felt like to see someone you knew reanimated as a wight. But despite his blue eyes, Gendry was very much still alive. Men talked of his bravery, how he had sprinted all the way back to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea from beyond the Wall to send a raven for help. 

Once upon a time, Arya might have run out to him, tackled him off his horse, screamed at him for leaving her and being stupid and bullheaded. That was once upon a time. She was older now, and colder. So Arya stayed hidden in the crowd as the man she once loved rode past, into Winterfell, like she had always hoped for. But it was not hope that filled her. Instead, she felt completely empty, unable to feel anything at all. She thought she was going to follow him to the end of the world, but she ended up in Braavos alone.

 

* * *

 

In Braavos, Jaqen H’ghar used to ask her a question in the House of Black and White, “Who are you waiting for?”

 

“No one,” she would say, and he would strike her. Again and again and again.

 

Every night she dreamt of Winterfell and in Winterfell was the familiar sound of Gendry’s hammer against an anvil. She would follow the sound to the castle’s forge and find him there with laughter in his eyes as he called her “m’lady.” The same dream. Again and again and again.

 

“Who are you waiting for?”

 

“No one.” Another strike from Jaqen’s cane.

 

She asked Jaqen why he didn’t believe her. Screamed at the waif to tell her the answer to the riddle. Every time, they just looked at her and walked away.

 

“A girl cannot become no one while waiting for someone,” the waif said one day as Arya lay on the ground, having lost the Game of Faces again.

 

“I am not waiting for anyone,” Arya screamed back at her.

 

The waif stared at her coolly, “If you say so, m’lady.”

 

* * *

  

“Who are you waiting for?” Jaqen H’ghar asked, ready to strike her again.

 

“I was waiting for someone,” Arya said. Jaqen looked at her with interest. She continued, “A stupid, bullheaded boy with brilliant blue eyes. I loved him, I thought I would follow him to the end of the world. But there were those who were chasing him, and he thought he would run faster without me, so he left for the end of the world and left me behind.”

 

“So, a girl waits for his return.” 

 

“I waited,” said Arya. “Searched the world for him. But when I found him, it was too late.” Arya thought about Lommy’s body, blood gushing out of his neck and mouth. But instead of Lommy lying dead on the ground, it was Gendry, death gurgling from his punctured throat. “They put my sword through his neck and gave it back to me covered in his blood.”

 

She had imagined Gendry dying this way a thousand times. A thousand times she stared into his dead, blue eyes. And a thousand times she felt her heart break. She could no longer remember his voice or his smile or his laugh.

 

“Who are you waiting for?” Jaqen H’ghar asked again.

 

“No one.”

 

That night, the waif smirked at her, “M’lady has finally passed the test.” Arya’s heart broke one final time.

 

After that, Arya still dreamed of Winterfell, but Gendry was never there.

 

* * *

  

“As you wish, m’lady” Gendry said, grinning at her nervously. Arya’s face broke out into a smile and she saw the tension leave his face. She was playing the Game of Faces with him, and she was winning. He truly believed she was still the girl he once knew, the girl he would do anything for.

 

He teased her, called her another rich girl. She teased him back, the smile in her eyes this time, before walking away, giving a little twirl on the way out for good measure. He was still staring at her, eyes blown open in wonder as he absentmindedly reached for the piece of paper she’d left behind, as if searching for physical proof that she had been there. As soon as she was out of the forge, the smile dropped from her face. The Valyrians had worked their slaves to death in their great mines, but no man worked harder than when they were protecting someone they loved, or thought they loved.

 

Back in the forge, Gendry looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, thinking about the Arya who had given it to him. When he called her Lady Stark, she protested like she always had. When he called her “m’lady,” he could see in her eyes how secretly pleased she was. She had Arya’s face and Arya’s voice and even Arya’s smile. But despite all that, he felt like he had just spoken to a ghost. An unnatural ghost of Arya, pretending to be the girl he was in love with. Gendry had traveled to the end of the world to find her, but now that he finally had, she was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> This is objectively worse than my other fic but thank you so much for reading to the end. I feel like there's a non-zero chance that Arya's just pretending to flirt with Gendry. Anyways, will Gendry we able to get the old Arya back? How long is she going to torment him like this? Why's the waif so mean? I don't know yet but I guess I'll figure it out later when I post the next chapter.


End file.
